Saturday, 24 September 2011

The Tien Shen Mountains in southern Kazakhstan is a good site for Ibisbill. This one was on the shore of Big Almaty Lake. I spent two days in the mountains during my 8-day visit to Kazakhstan.
A few Mistle Thrushes appeared to be moving through the area around The Observatoy in the Tien Shen Mountains in the company of Altai Accentors.

Not a great shot but Black-throated Accentor appeared to be all over the place at times.

Blue-capped Redstart in the conifers below our hotel in the Tien Shen Mountains.

A Wallcreeper above rocks at Big Almaty Lake. I did not expect to come across a pair of these.

The Tien Shen Mountains... very scenic.

I flushed a pair of Himalayan Snowcock at this spot, high in the mountains.

I travelled in Kazakhstan with Misha Danichkin, who organised things... a lovely bloke and impressively efficient. I can recommend him: http://www.kyrgyzland.com/

Saturday, 10 September 2011

A male Snowy Owl on Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic. The island is one of the best places in the world to see this much desired species. I saw an estimated 100 in the five days we were around Wrangel Island, as the birds are conspicuous in the short tundra.

A female, showing the characteristic darker markings. The owls feed entirely on the two lemming species on the island. Lemming populations go through cycles and numbers had crashed this year, so the owls had a poor nesting season.

Arctic Foxes were quite common on Wrangel Island. Like this one, all were shedding their summer pelage, with winter coming on.

A Northern Pika, common in rocky outcrops in the Russian Arctic.

Arctic Ground-Squirrel, common and trusting in the Russian Arctic tundra.

Woolly Mammoths survived on Wrangel Island in the Russian Arctic long after they became extinct elsewhere. They survived until 3500 years ago and their tusks are found around the island. This one is being held by one of the Russian park rangers.

Walrus, Beluga Whale, Fin Whale, Grey Whale and three species of seal were among the mammals seen during out Heritage Expeditions trip to the Russian Arctic. This walrus was on Herald Island.

We had some impressive walrus haul-outs, both on the mainland of the Chukotka Peninsula and on Koluchyin and Herald islands. While we were at Koluchyin, Chukchi hunters killed a walrus after harpooning it and tying it to floats attached to their boat.

While most walruses are killed for their meat, unfortunately it is becoming increasingly common for animals to be slaughtered solely for their tusks, which are used to make ivory artefacts. We found several carcasses like this one, where the head had been removed and the meat left to rot.

We saw dozens of Belugas in Anadyr Harbour, one of the best places in the world to see this white Arctic whale. The animals can be seen in the shallow sea as your plane comes in to land.

This Spotted Seal was also in Anadyr Harbour. Further north above the Arctic Circle, Ringed and Bearded Seals were present in small numbers but most were with the pack ice, much further north again as it has been a particularly warm season this year.

We had good numbers of Humpback Whales, including a pod of 20 about the boat at one time in the company of 2 Fin Whales.

Grey Whales were also common in places, but difficult to get a decent shot of.

I have just returned from a Heritage Expeditions trip to the Russian Arctic. I saw an amazing 90 Polar Bears within the space of a week, with about 106 being seen overall on the voyage. The animal above was an adolescent male on the shore of Wrangel Island, regarded by many as the Polar Bear capital of the world. We saw 16 bears on one occasion in one valley, all in view at the same time.

Here is a female bear with her cub, with a second cub emerging from the water, on Kolyuchin Island, where we saw our first Polar Bears.

This bear was swimming off Herald Island, which has an incredible density of 12 Polar Bear maternity dens per square kilometre. Wrangle and Herald Islands were unusually free of ice during our visit, so all the bears were concentrated on the islands, waiting for the autumn ice to form.

This large male was watched for some time from us in offshore zodiaks. The bears were generally shy and it was easier to see them from the water.

This bear was feeding on a dead Walrus on the shore of Wrangel Island - its tusks can be seen in the lower right of the picture.